This new production of Jekyll & Hyde is being heavily marketed as hipper and sexier than its predecessors, however it misses its mark.

Constantine Maroulis as Edward Hyde and Deborah Cox as Lucy in the Mirvish presentation of Jekyll & Hyde.

By:Kelly Cameronspecial to the star, Published on Thu Nov 15 2012

Jekyll & Hyde

stars (out of 4)

By Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn. Until Nov. 18 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria St. 416-872-1212

Jekyll & Hyde is a tale about duality and the eternal battle between good and bad. On Wednesday night at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, a battle ensued and unfortunately the bad won.

This new production is being heavily marketed as hipper and sexier than its predecessors; however it missed its mark. Early in Act I, Dr. Jekyll (Constantine Maroulis) proclaims, “I’ve had about as much respectability as I can take for one night,” and the show seemed to take that as license to toss all respectability out the window.

Jekyll & Hyde has had a tumultuous past, with a four-year run on Broadway beginning in 1997 that saw lacklustre reviews which criticized the story’s ability to translate well into a musical. In fact, the show has often done better in concept recordings and concert versions than fully staged productions.

It tells the story of Dr. Jekyll, a devoted man of science driven to make a medical breakthrough to help his sick father. When society’s elite refuses to grant him the help he requires, he takes matters into his own hands and unwittingly unleashes a demon in the form of Edward Hyde.

The show features new direction and choreography by Tony Award nominee Jeff Calhoun and preserves the original music of Frank Wildhorn, but even with these drastic changes, the production fails to overcome the problems which have plagued it over the years.

The music is still the best part of the show, with hummable tunes and gorgeous melodies but the story is under-developed and clunky. It seemed rushed and focused more on shock and awe through sex appeal than on the development of the heart and soul of the piece. In addition, the actors seemed to struggle with the accents of their characters, often flipping between different dialects and tone.

The directorial focus on the tawdry results in gorgeous costumes and some impressive imagery, making the show a feast for the eyes but doing little to overcome the core problems. When Hyde begins his murderous rampage, the deaths take on almost cartoonish proportions, with little being done to make them adequately display the horrific nature of Hyde’s actions. In fact, the only time the audience even sees blood is on projection screens.

In the dual role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Maroulis (of American Idol fame) seems more at home as the demented and psychotic Mr. Hyde than he does as Dr. Jekyll, and his pop-style vocal wailing fits well with the ranting of his murderous alter ego.

As Dr. Jekyll he never finds his footing, struggling to show the tender and caring side of a man who dreams of creating a better world through science. When he changes into the psychotic Hyde, only his lack of ponytail and eyeglasses serve to indicate there has been a personality switch. It isn’t until he belts out songs such as Alive that the audience really gets a sense of the huge transformation his character has undergone.

Unfortunately, because he struggles to show the heart and soul of Jekyll, the musical numbers of that character lack the strength of Hyde’s numbers. In ‘This is the Moment’, a song which is usually the Act I showstopper, one couldn’t help but feel as though he were singing for his life on American Idol.

The women of the show fare better, with Canadian R&B diva Deborah Cox showing surprising range as Lucy, the hooker with a heart of gold and object of Hyde’s affection. She’s stunningly beautiful and her pop-style vocals are a good fit for the character and music.

Cox’s natural presence and vulnerability shine through in numbers like Someone Like You and A New Life.

Equally impressive is Teal Wicks as Dr. Jekyll’s fiancée Emma, a woman consumed with love for the troubled protagonist. When the ladies duet on In His Eyes, their vocals blend perfectly and the song is hands-down the highlight of the night.

The supporting cast works hard to overcome the show’s flaws and while they do an admirable job, their efforts aren’t enough to save Jekyll & Hyde from slowly devolving into a farce toward the end of the second act.

The now infamous Confrontation scene, which in past productions Jekyll/Hyde battle it out with hair flipping furiously, utilizes video projections and lighting to achieve its desired effect. Unfortunately, the projections come across as clumsy and unnecessarily loud, akin to something out of a bad eighties rock concert or horror movie.

In the end, this production of Jekyll & Hyde clearly demonstrates why the show has failed so often in the past. While the story is beloved and the music beautiful, there is something deeply troubled about the production as a whole.

Much like its main character, Jekyll & Hyde seems stuck in an eternal struggle between good and bad, and perhaps the kindest thing to do would be to put it out of its misery once and for all.

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